


My Dear, My Heart, My Love... My Life

by Acid_Lova, JadeLoverXD



Series: Interactive Fanfiction Stories [3]
Category: The Soul Stone War - Morgan Vane
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Smut, Are we okay? No, Book 2 damnit where is it?!, Do not ever touch Morkai's hair without his permission, Dont deny unless ur sure, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, I heard people die from heartbreak, Let Eledwen be loved, MORKAI CAUGHT THE FEELS, Manerkol has feelings, Manerkol is also... OoF, Smut, Soulmates, TTW—2020, Why this bitch gotta have hair longer than mine? Lets ask him for his hair care routine..., i would scream in the language of holy shit, if i could
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:27:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24623950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acid_Lova/pseuds/Acid_Lova, https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeLoverXD/pseuds/JadeLoverXD
Summary: Set after the events of Book 1After Manerkol basically tooth-fucked my OC'S neck and claimed her, shit happens, and it happens to be good, bad, and stupidly ridiculous.-or-My OC is an emotional train with... Emotions, and doesn't know what tf she wants.Kinda like my friend Jade lmao
Relationships: Manerkol/Female Character, Manerkol/Original Female Character(s), Minor Morkai/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Interactive Fanfiction Stories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741621
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

Three days.

Three days since finding her stone, Obsidian. It felt like decades ago.

Three days since she last saw Manerkol and Eledwen was captured. Since Manerkol merged their souls into one, creating an unbreakable bond that she did not want. The dreams had stopped at least, and every other emotion Manerkol had shared with her when he'd bonded with her closed off. He kept everything from her, occasionally while not letting down his own mental barriers, tugging on that bond to make sure she was still there—easing the temptation to follow that bond home. To _him._ But it only worked for so long 

On the third day, instead of Strassa, Daelynn taught her to forge her own mental barriers, and no matter how much it hurt her to keep him out of her head, from seeing through her eyes, she kept building that stupid wall until it strengthened and strengthened. She hadn't told them of what Manerkol was—is—to her, it would only complicate things even further.

One: her parents die, two: her friend is murdered and she gets blamed for it, three: she's thrusted into a war she wanted no part of—bonded with her country's High King against her will.

_It's not like I ever got a chance at how my life goes anyway._

Obsidian is a steady pulse in her hand as she looks over the expanse of forest below her from her perch on the cliff face. Her legs swing back and forth uselessly, almost as useless as—

 _Silence._ She hisses at Obsidian, and it goes quiet. Nyx had no desire to continue listening to the false truths the stone sprouted, had no intention of doing its bidding. 

But sometimes, she almost rose to the bait. Almost.

They had come to an almost agreement. Though something in the back of her head tells her otherwise. The stone could not—would not be reasoned with. But for now, it was steady as she held it, almost... plotting to take her over.

"Nyx?" A familiar voice sounds behind her. She barely turns her head before he continues, "Strassa and Daelynn are waiting for us." Morkai inches up to her slowly, as if he would scare her off the cliff.  
Obsidian can barely contain a laugh.

Nyx rises and meets his gaze, the same look she's been seeing on his face for the last three days. If she were still herself, she'd question him, but as she moves past him without a word, she barely notices it, doesn't care for it. But she wants to.

It doesn't matter though, because the worried gaze still stays on his face, on everyone's face.

That night, when she falls asleep, into another dreamless sleep, Manerkol decides to end it—the silence and the quiet mourning of loosing herself to the stone.

"This, is the last time I feel you mourn for yourself." He hisses in her ear, the smell of jasmine invading her nostrils making her soul sing at the nearness of him. Even Obsidian throbs in excitement.

The mark on her neck tingles as he moves a cold finger over it, and he slides into view, red eyes scanning her from head to toe. 

He looked... Terrible. There were dark red circles under his eyes, his cheekbones more visible, and most of all, she felt his pain. And she wished she didn't ache for her enemy as he ached for her.

"I'm glad you think so," a smile pulls at the corner of his lips before he takes her right arm in his hand, staring down at Obsidian wrapped around her forearm with a scowl, "You should not have fought me. Or the Stone."

"Yeah well," she laughs, humorless, and yanks away her arm, a feeling of regret forming as she does, "I didn't ask for any of this yet, here I am." 

"Sometimes, we do not get to be masters of our own fate."

"Don't preach to me."

Manerkol nods and lets out a breath, his voice a bit softer as he speaks, "I understand that you wished for any of this to not happen..."

A frown pulls at her face, "You have no idea."

"Don't I?" Phantom claws skim the wall protecting her mind making her flinch, just as he steps closer and tilts her chin up, "Try as you might, _mate_ , but you can never keep me out." And a part of her believed him. His red eyes searched her face, searching for something that wasn't there as she stared back.

Maybe once, if there wasn't a vampire for a High King, if there wasn't any war, she might have found herself in love with him.

 _Don't resist._ Obsidian whispers, and Manerkol's eyes snap down to it.

Nyx doesn't jerk away, she knows it would be too painful to handle, not when his mind was touching hers after so long... She could finally breathe again, no longer drowning in an ocean of misery and pain. 

And she hated that she found relief in it. _In him._

His eyes meet Nyx's again, and nothing else in the world mattered to her. He leans his head down to brush the top of his nose and forehead with hers, the sweet smell of jasmine now calming whatever nerves she had.

His arm snakes around her waist, giving her a moment to break away from him before he pulls her closer, leaving not an inch of space between them. Nyx's mark tingled as he moves his head towards the spot, and nuzzles there, "Nyxia..."

And the moment is broken, her pulling her head back and shaking her head, 'no'.

"I want to wake up."

"I—"

"Now. Manerkol."

* * *

Morkai sits across from her watching her push her food around the plate. Daelynn, Strassa and him exchange the unspoken words, the words they knew to be true for the past two weeks.

Strassa sits next to her, "Nyx?" She stops messing around with her food and raises a questioning brow, "We know."

"Know what?"

"That he's still visiting you that he's..."

"Your soulmate." Morkai finishes, but looks pained as he does.

Her eyes narrow, and she puts the plate on the ground, "He's nothing to me."

_Liar._

"Then Nyx, you wouldn't be here slowly dying for nothing. Obviously, you and Manerkol had this bond before either of you knew of each other's existence—"

"I don't want it," she cuts off Daelynn, and a tear streams down her face, "I don't want anything to do with him yet, I do." 

_Liar._ Obsidian hisses, and forces her back into the dreamland, a mirrored copy of herself shoving her with a single hand, _You want everything to do with him, and yet you deny what you've been gifted?_

"Get out of my head," she whispers and clutches at her head as she's brought down to her knees by a searing pain forming. Faint shouts that are close sound far away, hands are on her and they feel like poison. Not him. Not him. Not **him.**

Nyx tries to move, to speak, but invisible shackles hold her in place and silence her.

Nyx grips her chin and grins down at her, _We are one, Nyx. We belong to him. And to him, we shall go._

* * *

Her eyes snap open, smoke burning in her throat as she takes on large gulps of air, clawing at her throat to get fresh air into her lungs—

A strong hand gently rubs soothing circles on her back, and another reaches for the hand at her throat, pulling it away and tilting her head up until—

_And to him, we shall go._

Nyx melts at his touch, then tries to jerk away from him, "You'll do yourself no good struggling so why bother?" Manerkol tuts and reaches for a cup of water next to him, "Don't try and talk, drink." And for a moment, she can hear the anger in his voice before it's gone.

Hesitantly, she takes the cup from him, readying herself to feel the liquid going down her throat before she pauses to stare at him, "Do you really think I would drug or poison my own mate?" He jerks his chin down at the cup, "I wouldn't get much of a benefit out of it anyways, seeing as though I would die as well. Drink or I will force it down your throat. Your choice whether or not you enjoy it."

Nyx tilts the cup into her mouth, a frown marring her brow as she drinks the water down her dry throat. 

"Where are my friends?" She looks around the dimly lit room carefully, as if something in the shadows would jump out at her and attack her. The bed she sat on was big, bigger than she'd ever seen or slept in, and she realized she was in a room—not a prison. What more or less did she expect? An instant death? To... _die_?

The empty cup in her hand fills again, startling her out of her thoughts, "Do you remember how you got here?" He asks quietly, watching her drink her second glass with his blood red eyes.

Obsidian. "Obsidian took control..." She trails off and looks at her arm, where the supposed stone had been, but all that remained of it, was the pale mark of where it was—had been wrapped around her arm, almost like a snake wrapping itself around its prey. 

"And brought the both of you here," he finishes.

But what about Daelynn, Morkai and Strassa? "You left them." Nyx starts, but he holds up a hand, "Obsidian didn't kill anyone, just brought you here."

She found that hard to believe. Obsidian had promised her a lot of things, good and bad. She wasn't really going to believe that until she had proof.

"You want proof?" 

"Stay out of my head."

But he ignored her, and reached forward to tug on her shirt with two fingers, "If you killed them their blood would have been on you, and Obsidian."

"How do you know I didn't poison them?"

"Obsidian answers to me, Onyx would tell if it were lying."  
He stands up to his full height, a few strands of hair falling into his face, and her hand itches to—

_No._

"You can't keep denying yourself, pet," she shivers at the nickname, and before she can stop him, he leans in and places a kiss at the mark on her neck, and she moans, an arm instinctively going around his neck to keep her from falling back. She could feel him smile against her neck, his lips brushing against the delicate skin, "It's only going to get worse if you keep denying. Mating bonds were never meant to be denied."

His hands trail to her hips and he hauls her into his arms, the bond flaring as he does and comes face-to-face with her. 

Nyx melts in his arms, the resistance no longer in her as he once again opens his mind to hers, sharing his emotions and thoughts with her until she's crying into his chest.

Manerkol freezes, not expecting for her to burst out in tears before he brings her closer and tries his best to soothe her. He doesn't use words, he doesn't know how, all he can do is hold her silently as she sobs and sends a calming wave towards her.


	2. Chapter 2

Manerkol stares down at Nyx as she slept. Her body relaxed and occasional frowns pinching at her features. For the first time in the past few days, he saw her, and his heart swelled.

It's been months since he's actually slept, and the thought of it actually made him want to sleep too. Being a vampire had its perks—immortality being one amongst other things, and her.

He didn't want to leave her alone in his room, and even with the guards and protective spells, it still wasn't enough to him. Since he'd only initiated part of the mating bond, he would be even more... unusual than normal. 

A part of him screamed for him to complete the bond with her, but from what he could tell, she didn't know much about Soul Mates and the bond they shared. So instead of giving in to the basic instinct, he'd wait until she was ready. He understood how much she'd been through in so little time. 

But if they waited for too long...

Three hard knocks sound on the dark oak doors, and he suppresses a snarl as she stirs on the bed, and opens the door, but not enough for the guard addressing him to see his mate asleep on the bed.

"What is it?"

"The dragon is awake, milord."

* * *

The white walls of the palace seemed depressing underneath the sky full of dark clouds, stretching as far asShe couldn't tell if it was night, or day at times, it felt like it was night considering the people down below, making little to no noise—perfect noise at night. Unless you were having a party.

The gardens, once lush and beautiful, now filled with dead twigs and bushels of thorns. The pavement underneath her feet was cracked, some of the cracks led to the walls of the palace, and into the dry, dead ground. 

A whole week, and no signs of life outside, once, she'd tried speaking to the people down below on the streets, and with no response from the people, she'd wandered, her mind itching to know of the history behind the city. She'd managed to find a name, one that she couldn't pronounce in her native tongue, and a little bit of backstory to the city.  
Once a prosperous place to live, the kingdom had practically ruled itself with magic, and no particular monarch, besides the Council that held it all together. No one had laid claim to the throne, few had tried to, but the throne rejected them.

She slams the book closed, dust swirling around her in a cloud and sending her into a coughing fit.

"You've been busy," Nyx fights the urge to roll her eyes at the sound of his voice, the usual chilly atmosphere he brings with him gone, and in its stead, a warm one replaces it as opens another old book, "Are you ignoring me on purpose?"

"Hm." At least the air was warmer in the library, even her cloak couldn't—

 _Nyxia._ His voice booms inside her mind.

" _Frack! Shit!_ What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Her hands are over her ears, somehow her ears are ringing from the volume of his voice—but inside her head? She wanted to rip her brain out.

Manerkol appears at her side, the corner of his lips pulling up a bit as he places a hand on her forehead, sparks erupting from the touch and she was not staring. Nope.

"Getting your attention," he says causally. The ringing in her ears disappears and her head no longer feels like it just separated itself from her.

"I'd rather not have your voice being louder than my thoughts because then, I'd rip out my hair." 

Pursing his lips, he leans on the table next to her, the scent of jasmine getting stronger each time he came close, "Sadly, that wasn't what I meant, but how else was I supposed to get my mate's attention?" 

For the past week she's been here, they'd been having conversations like two people who've known each other for as long as they could remember. If Nyx thought too hard about it, she'd panic and try the next time to not have another 'casual conversation', but always ended up failing at that task as scrapped it to the side because in truth she was... Enjoying them. No matter how many times she'd promised to herself she wouldn't, she did. And she somehow ended up learning more about him and he learning more about her. And she didn't go without the day without Obsidian whispering—

"And what exactly has Obsidian been so furtively talking about?" 

"Nothing. At. all." She says through clenched teeth and tries to focus on the words in the book. _Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it._

**Atilas was the only city to have a market district, a music district and—**

"You've already read that line ten times."

"Damnit Manerkol!" Her hands down down on the table and she looks up at him, a smug expression resting his face, "I can't focus with you around!"

"Then stop trying." 

"No! I came here to get some me time because I can't decide weather or not I want you, Obsidian just makes things worse because she's the goddamn darker version of me, and I'm having emotions, Manerkol. _Emotions!_ About... _Everything!"_ Letting out a breath, she rubs at her chest, and asks in a small voice, "Is this how... how mate's feel?"

She doesn't get an answer immediately, only sensing the same emotion she couldn't describe from him. She didn't know much about soul mates, since there were hardly any in their world. There were, at the time, a few, but since then, since the gods started dying, people started loosing their belief.

 _I myself cannot say. I never experienced... this._ He motions with a finger at them, _Do you want me to ask a few dead gods?_ He teases. The weight on them seems to lift each time they do this.

"Very funny, vampire." 

* * *

Nyx groans and buries herself back into the blankets as a chilly breeze makes contact with her foot. She presses her face into the pillow before she drifts back to sleep, but can't when a tugging at her mind keeps her from doing so.

 _What?_ She snaps.

When Manerkol responds, his voice sounds murky, distant almost, _You've been sleeping for half the day and have yet to eat._

She snorts and rolls over to stare at the ceiling, _Bold enough for you to assume I wanted to eat._

_You are going to eat something regardless of how you feel._

And what she felt, she herself still couldn't decipher. One of the things she should have felt was guilt for leaving behind her friends... But all she could feel was relief. 

_Should I?_ Should she feel that way with an enemy? Still she asked that question .

Her face pulls into a doubtful expression as she hauls herself out of the bed and into the washroom, completely ignoring the tub totally made for fitting more than one individual. _Fracking Obsidian._

After she'd relived herself and still avoided looking at the tub she went back into the room, _Where are you anyways?_

Before she gets the last part out she feels him in the room. Like a beacon and she was drawn to it. In the corner he sits on a leather couch, his shirt open to reveal the chest beneath, but she couldn't see his face that was cloaked in shadow.

"So one of the things Obsidian whispered involved the tub?"

Her cheeks heated, "Oh fuck off."

"I will," he purrs, Nyx bites her tongue to keep from letting out a noise she would be embarrassed to hear, and she could feel his eyes trailing down her body, "Just not now." 

_Just not now._ Now she's supposed to be live he's a gentleman now? The tentacles he'd put her in the first time had said otherwise.

In a flash he's in front of her, pressed so close she could feel the heat radiating from him that she stumbles back a bit, fisting her hands into his shirt to keep her balance, _Or are you talking about something else, pet?_

Part of her thought about it, how giving in would be so easy... But she had to if she wanted any kind of relief, the will to keep going. Why was it so hard when he was clearly her salvation then?

He raises a hand to trace a finger along her cheek, looking into her eyes to see if she was okay with it (in which, she half-was and wasn't) and closes her eyes at the gentle contact, her face tilting into his touch. _Another response to your question in the library yesterday, I won't force you to do anything you don't want._ He hooks an arm around her waist, bringing her closer and buries his face in her neck, right over that same mark he'd put there, and rubs the tip his nose against it. Again.

"But you have two choices, possibly even three," he doesn't say anything more until he's at least a foot or two apart, "One: You accept your side of the bond, completely free of the pain and misery you feel now." The corner of his lips tilt up before they drop, a painful expression now taking over. Her heart clenches in her chest, just the bare thought of him in pain...

No.

"Or two: Continue to reject the bond, and we both die."

Nyx licks at her dry lips, and his attention focuses on the motion, "And three?"

"Use Obsidian to... break the bond. One of us will die, but it may not work."

"And you would just give me a choice? Just like that?" She stares at him in disbelief, but she could feel the truth in his words.

 _Maybe sometime you'll understand it better,_ he reaches for something behind him—a plate of food, she realizes—and offers it to her, just as her stomach growls. _But right now I have no desire to think of such things._

Thankfully she doesn't ask anything else, just wordlessly takes the plate from him and sits on the edge of the bed frowning. It was too good to be true and that confused her more than it scared her. She had choices, two of which had deadly consequences more than the first.  


"I can't take choices away from you, keep you trapped here with me—that's why I didn't come after you on the first day. I wanted to be live me. But, Nyxia," Manerkol pauses, "Do not ever think you're a prisoner as long as you are bonded to me." 

That had her. The fact that he was malicious and cold towards her when he'd first shown himself to her, whereas now and how it was completely gone perplexed her.

Maybe if...

He turns to leave, his raven mane swinging with the motion before she stops him, surprising herself at the soft tone in her voice, "It's Nyx not... not Nyxia."

"Why not?" He questions with a lifted brow.

She shrugs with a shoulder, shy, almost, and picks up a grape "Everyone I know calls me Nyx." And she turns to look at him, his eyes closed and the bond now thrumming like a harp, making it stronger, and Nyx has to swallow back tears at the onslaught of emotions she feels. Her chest squeezes, like mashing together raspberries, she can't say she's felt anything like this before, the proof of it being her slightly panicked eyes and fists gripping the sheets on either side of her.

He's back in front of her, kneeling down to her height, looking at her with his blood red eyes, May I? 

She doesn't hesitate with her answer, all she can do is stare up at him, wanting him, to feel him, _Yes._

And almost before the word registers, an explosion rocks the room and breaks the moment. She ends up underneath Manerkol, curling into him as he shields her, strands of his hair brushing her face as he's above her.

After a second, then five, it stops, cracking her eyes open, she sees him snarling above her, his fangs elongated and bared. How exactly would they feel— nope.

"Wrong time to be thinking like that, pet," he'd caught on to her thoughts, still holding himself above her and leans down, giving her mark a light nip with his fangs before she can stop him. 

He watches as her face morphs from confusion to shock, then flushes at the look he gives her, "But I'll be happy to experiment."

"Milord!" An armed guard breaks through the doors of the room, and he stands up so quick that Nyx couldn't track his movement as he pushes he behind him, "The dragons escaped..." 

Eledwen? Now she really felt like crap, she forgot the one thing her and her friends were after—Eledwen.

"Where is she?"

Manerkol tenses as she peeks from behind him and the man at the door's eyes widen with realization as he backs up into the hallway, "She was last seen circling west, then flew east."

"And none of you tried to stop her?" Manerkol asks, coldness seeping into his words.

"We had her before the chains holding her down snapped, one of the mages put a tracking spell on her while she was sleeping..." Tracking spell? Those were hard for even Nyx to attempt. Her mana well was relatively low for a human with a bit of elvish blood.

* * *

Manerkol dismisses Kur, the man scampering off and taking the invading smell of his fear away. Nyx slides in front of him, and instead of the flustered expression she wore moments before, there was fury,

"What have you done to Eledwen?"

"Nothing that wasn't necessary."

"What is that supposed to mean? Answer the question!"

"It means that I got what I wanted." He hadn't yet tried to wield the Stone, he wasn't completely sure if it would tear him apart if he did both Onyx and the Dragon's stone.

"You... You took her Stone?" Nyx's eyes stare holes into the ground, and then not long after, his heart crushed like ice as her eyes light with realization, her fingers twitching over the arm where Obsidian resided, "And my stone..? You got that too, didn't you?" 

Confusion, hurt, and sadness radiates from her, "So am I just a tool now?" She laughs humorlessly, "I can't believe I let myself forget about my friends.."

He flinches, "No—"

"You said that you weren't sure that you would be able to wield Celestite alongside Onyx. In order for you to wield them, you need their Wielders. That much, I know." His chest swelled, his mate had read his mind without him having to show her how to use the bond.

"Did you plan on killing Eledwen, Manerkol?"

_Only if she didn't cooperate._ He had even said he would take the stones for himself with it without their Wielders. But now that his mate was one...

"If I weren't..." She hesitates, "If I weren't your mate, would you'd have still killed me if I didn't want to join you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes... Nothin' like some angst that just seems too stupid to be angst.  
> It was never our intention to make this a fucking long story but it happened. It maybe it is still out intention to make this shawt wdk  
> Don't deny yourself the love you think you don't deserve.  
> Well... Unless you absolutely _know_ you don't deserve it—If you've had a taste of it.


	3. Chapter 3

Nyx was given a choice, multiple, in fact, the last two days have been a blur. Obsidian spoke to Celestite whenever it could, often times, she would to to get a better understanding at what the other stones felt and experienced.

And from what she could understand, was that without her Stone, Eledwen would die. 

_So you see why we cannot be separated, Nyx._ Obsidian says smugly.

"Yeah, yeah," she opens the scarf and drapes it over Celestite, wrapping the clothing piece around it until there was no more scarf left to wrap, "You're all like a parasite needing it's host."

Obsidian pulses on her arm in annoyance, _Do not refer to me as a parasite Nyx._

_"Do not refer to me as a parasite Nyx,"_ she mimics and puts Celestite—who remained quiet the entire time—in her pack, "Now ask your long lost sibling where my dragon friend is."

The matter of getting out of the palace with Eledwen's stone without Manerkol knowing would be a great problem, especially when she didn't know how he would react.

_I am not a prisoner here,_ the orb of light that was hovering above her suddenly extinguishes, forcing the room back into darkness as she opens the door, _He cannot force me to stay._

_Aren't I stealing?_ She hesitates, her hand hovering above the polished door handle. She was leaving, intent on saving her friend but stealing the one thing that could save her, from the one person she was learning to slowly trust. But would she come back?

Irritation surges throughout her mind, _Would you just pick one and go with it?_

"Where is Eledwen?" Nyx pinches the bridge of her nose and squeezes her eyes shut, ignoring the tightness in her chest.

_There is a much easier way to do this, Nyx._

"No, there really isn't." Lie, if she didn't already feel sick at the thought of leaving Manerkol, she probably wouldn't have said that, "Where is my friend?"

_Waiting._

Nyx's steps falter in the darkened hallway, "She knows we're coming?"

_You're carrying the stone. She can sense it moving._

"Right." The halls looked more or less the same, easy for someone to get lost in, and she barely caught a glimpse of anyone else within the palace (besides Manerkol whenever he decided to show up and pester her.)

_Where's Onyx?_ She asks Obsidian after reaching the doors to the gardens.

_Still in the courtyard, I don't think they suspect yet..._

"Wait," Nyx glances down at the stone, "Why are you helping me?" If she remembered correctly, the stone had wanted control over her in the first few days. But it had... changed, albeit slowly, but she noticed...

_There are plenty of reasons why I should continue helping you and why I shouldn't. One of them involving the safety of my sibling._

Nyx nods in understanding, and speeds past the decayed garden, and to the cracked wall down the hill behind it. Still no sign of any guards or Manerkol, the usual atmosphere that surrounded the palace. 

The stone wall was cracked in some places, and chunks were missing in even more. The stone expands into her hand, transforming into the staff she'd held not long ago, and glows in her hand.

Celestite throbs impatiently in her pack reminding her of its presence, "If you want to get out of here Celestite, you have to be—"

"Quiet?" _Frack!_ One of the things she was terrible at happened to be sneaking, the scars on her legs were all the proof, "You must have known the stones were impatient."

Nyx slowly turns, eyes wide and gripping the staff tighter, "You're not stopping me," she says before taking a step back, "You said you wouldn't keep me as a prisoner."

Manerkol grins, a fang peeking from behind his lip, but doesn't move, "That, I did. But, you did take something that belongs to me."  
Get us out of here, Obsidian doesn't respond, the stone slowing down to a rhythmic pulse. Both stones had quieted now that he was here, like they were waiting... For what?

"My friend will die without her stone Manerkol," she straightens her back, and tightens her grip on Obsidian, "I'm going to give back her stone."

His head cocks to the side and takes a step forward, "But what if I didn't let you?" he asks.

"But what if you can't wield her stone and then you die, and then she dies, then she wouldn't she'd have been the only logical choice?" She didn't completely understand why he would kill the only ones able to wield the Stones, when one body could only do one to hold a power that belonged to gods.

Obsidian lightly vibrates in her hand, and Manerkol stops moving, "You're doing this—to protect me?" He sounded... confused. A tug on the bond feels more solid than before, less of fragile strings and more rope. 

Nyx closes the distance between them and gazes into his red eyes, "We're mates dummy, if you die, I die," she dodges his question, and before she realizes, she leans in and plants a kiss on his cheek. He stiffens, sparks flying as she lets her lips linger for a second, and a new urge forms, something powerful and so well buried that she had no idea it was buried there.

_Now Obsidian!_ And then she disappears in a flash of light.

* * *

Manerkol stares at the space his mate had just been, her presence still lingering in the air. He touches his cheek, right where she kissed him and the confusion settles deeper, the stone she took with her forgotten.  
Did he really deserve to have someone care for him? He couldn't really remember what it felt like to be cared for since it had been centuries...

He couldn't remember the last time he felt like that.

He tugs on the bond, the solid bridge between them making it easier to reach her. He doesn't do anything, just stands there on that bridge and wonders why all of a sudden fate granted him something to be treasured.

_Why me?_

Manerkol rarely liked reflecting on himself and the things he's done, and when he did, he thought of the good he was trying to bring. The gods had given up on them, and someone had to step up and take their place to make things better. Because if they didn't...

Shaking his head, he snarls and brings himself back to his body. He _would_ make things better. He didn't come all this way just to give up.

* * *

"Elly?" The sound of leaves crunch under her feet as she treads through the silent forest, "I got your stone." 

She felt drained when she'd used the stone, her magic barely more than a puddle. Obsidian remained quiet the entire time, and Celestite gave off an excited pulse that irritated the both of them. 

The forest remains quiet, telltale sign that the dragon was still here unnerving the wildlife, she still marveled at how her mare, Farehorn became accustomed to her, "You smell of him."

She laughs lightly, "Well there's like, a lot of things you don't know about... " a beat of wings sound above her before Eledwen lands in front of her, "But I guess you know some of it?" She holds out the pack with the stone inside.

Eledwen barely looks at it, and instead, her eyes peer into her soul like a stern mother, "If he doesn't treat you well, you know how to find me." 

"You aren't—"

She shakes her head, "I would be a fool to do so," she pauses, "He didn't do anything when I was in there, he just stood there, like he was unsure. Nyx," a firm hand grips her shoulder, "you are doing something that even he has a hard time figuring out what to do. You can either use that to your advantage, or do nothing, and wait to see the outcome."

The dragon takes a step back and takes the pack with her, and spreads her wings, crouching down a bit to launch herself in the air, "But don't squander what you've been given."

"Eledwen wait," Nyx frowns in concern for her friend, "One day you'll find someone, I'm sure."

A flash of pain streaks across her face, and her eyes dart to the stone now in her hand. Her mouth opens and closes, a lot of words seeming to escape her, "Thank you, Nyx. But, I still have doubts." She manages.

"Doubting that there isn't someone out there for you won't help anything, Eledwen. You have to let go of that doubt or it'll never happen." She remembers when her grandmother would tell her stories about her life, how she was in doubt there wasn't anything or anyone in the world for her, so she almost gave up, until she met her grandfather.

"Do you care for him?" She asks quietly.

"What?"

"Do you care for him—Manerkol?" She repeats.

I—" She starts, unsure how to answer the question. She couldn't excuse all the terrible things he's done—but then, some of those terrible things had been with good intentions now that she actually knew the entire truth behind some. 

But did she care for Manerkol? It was hard for her to answer. Despite everything, they were growing close, "I might," she says more to herself than Eledwen, "And if I do, well, there's no point in resisting a chance at a life that isn't so... filled with death."

A corner of the dragon's mouth quirks up, "A sentiment I'm sure we all would like."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People are so damn hard to write its slightly worse than someone asking you to draw them.
> 
> So I'm not completely sure about the Wielder of a Stone _and_ the Stone can communicate with each other with words, but in the beginning of the book it just says that Onyx was upset? that it was just being used as a tool. It didn't use words at that time? So then, since neither of us can decide which theory to use, we've used both.
> 
> The Stones can only talk to each other and their Wielder mentally—with exceptions. Though if another Wielder tried to speak to another's Stone mentally all they would get is a bunch of singled-out emotions. I don't know why we thought of this, but we're leaving it as it it because it one of the most stupidest theories we'd ever thought of xD.
> 
> AND apparently I've given Obsidian a bit of personality.
> 
> Eledwen's fic is coming up next with Jade's OC Zuridan. She'll try to post it later.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter for now...

A boot nudges her leg, followed by a sigh, "Tired already?" 

Nyx glares up at Manerkol, "I hate you."

A smirk pulls at his lips as he steps back, "Get up," he orders. Nyx groans and rises from her splayed out position on the ground, already regretting asking him to help her with with her magic, and her stone, "This time, start channeling before you release, otherwise, it'll just be..." He jerks his chin at the ruined courtyard, "Untamed."

She closes her eyes, reaching down within herself for that hidden power, and tapping into Obsidian simultaneously, "Y'know? Maybe I should be just asked Kur. I mean yeah he's not a Weilder but—"

A hand grips her chin, forcing her eyes open as she meets his crimson gaze, "Do not ever," he says softly, "mention you being with another male."

A laugh bubbles up in her chest at the possive attitude, as she places a hand on his wrist, "Oh, c'mon, surely you must have known I was joking." Sort of. When Nyx pushed, he pushed harder, and most of the time she ended up enjoying it. Maybe she did deserve a little something good for once, "Maybe you should've came with a warning."

"Oh?" He takes one step closer, red eyes glowing, "And what sort of warning should I have come with?" 

"Uh," she does a tally on her fingers, "Comes with territorial bullshit, bondage for sure, and would-be clingyness."

"I am not..." He frowns, "clingy." 

Nyx thought he looked adorable trying to fit the word into his mouth, "Key word: would-be."

His eyes narrow, "What do you mean by that?" 

"Oh... Nothing," She bites her lip and moves away from him, "Quiet now, I need to concentrate."

_The bondage is spot-on though._

"Manerkol, shh!"

* * *

He finds her in the middle of the night with her legs dangling over the balcony, coiled white hair loose from its usual pony tail. She holds a book in her hand, an ball of light hovering over the pages as she reads.

 _I found your library,_ she flips a page and turns to him, _it's full of boring things I wouldn't read._

_Then why are you reading one of them?_

She closes the book she holds and runs a finger over the cover, _My mother would read this to me whenever I couldn't sleep._ He sees the image of a woman, similar to Nyx, whispering stories and tucking her in to sleep, _She died not too long ago._

 _Condolences._ He didn't have any memory with his parents in it. It was so long ago, he was pretty sure he was orphaned at the time. Really, deep down, if he squinted hard enough, he'd actually find that he missed the idea of a family. He shudders, the forgotten feeling creeping up on him as he banished those thoughts away.

But maybe... Maybe. He'd hadn't thought of having a mate until her and the dragon's stones were found, when the the bond had finally snapped into place. And now, here he stood next to her, thinking of a possibility—

 _Oh, how if I weren't undead._ The thought makes his chest tighten.

"I miss her." She speaks out of mind, her voice sounds heavy with a slight tremble.

"You miss a lot of things," a questioning look is cast his way, "But you seem to be one of the few that miss that of importance most."

She shrugs, hair moving along her arms at the motion, "It's what makes us human."

"But out of all of them," he continues, eyes trained on the horizon, "I find you most intriguing."


End file.
